Arun Jaitly mocks quota deal between Congress, PAAS

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday mocked the understanding reached between Congress and Hardik Patel-led PAAS on reservation for Patidars, saying it amounts to “deceiving each other” becuase quotas cannot exceed the constitutional ceiling of 50 per cent.

“From the statements that I have seen so far, the Congress-Hardik club is one of mutual deception. The law of the land is very clear and that is laid down by the Supreme Court and only last week in the Rajansthan case it has been reaffirmed that the 50 per cent cap cannot be breached.

“They can continue to mutually deceive each other and decive the public by saying that we will devise a methodology by breaching the cap. Legally and constitutionally it is not possible as the law stands today,” he said.

On the claim by Patel that the proposed reservation law could be put in the 9th Schedule under Article 31 (C) of the Constitution Jaitley said even that entry into 9th Schedule is subject to judicial review which is subject to challenge on the basic structure..

“Therefore, in election only those promises can be made to each other and to public which are capable of implementation. Otherwise you deceive yourself and you deceive your constituents,” he said.

On the “Chaiwala” jibe by Gujarat Youth Congress against Prime Minister, Jaitley said: “This debate has taken place in the past also. Now, in democracy there is no place for big family or small family. This is the strength of the Indian democracy that anybody from a humble begining can emerge and defeat the mightiest. We have seen this happening in this country.”